Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Big boy
Ben has graduated to riding a 2-wheel bike (no training wheels!). We took the training wheels off about 6 months ago, but have probably only practiced 5 times until last week, when he was riding well enough that I'm confident that he can ride his bike to and from school now (1.2km). He can start off, ride and brake safely all by himself. We've already done a couple of trips up to the shops (they are just across the road from school) which have gone without incident.
Christmas
Our Christmas was long, tiring, but good. It started with Naomi having a sleep-in, so we had a nice relax before having breakfast and opening presents. The kids surprised us by not bugging us about when they were getting to open presents. Later in the day with had the obligatory long, late Christmas lunch with friends. The kids have had fun playing together and Peter has enjoyed helping build another tree house. We will post some photos later when we've downloaded them.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
The country comes to town
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In late October, we went the the annual A&P show. Apart from seeing the usual horse judging, sheep dog competitions etc...This year there was a professional 'Lumberjack' show, where 2 guys climbed up really tall poles of wood and did some cool stuff with chainsaws. We also watched some 'sheep racing'. And the kids enjoyed getting up close with the baby animals again (well Naomi was a bit frightened by them, as they are still pretty BIG compared to the size of her).
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School Gala
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Ben's favourite was the 'Cherry-picker ride'.
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Trip to Auckland
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Ben's birthday party
Nearly a month ago, Ben had his 6th birthday party. The party was an adventure theme. Activities included: making parachute army men, a treasure hunt and an obstacle course.
The food included: swap sludge, chocolate sinking sand, treasure bags, mossy boulders and monkey cupcakes.
And the birthday cake was a Volcano.
The boys had great fun and didn't want to leave.
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Thursday, 15 December 2011
Test kitchen
Next year, we are planning a trip to the South Island where we will be camping for 3 weeks without any electricity and nowhere near any supermarket (except for 4 times where we are moving from one campground to the next). So I've been scanning my recipe books for things to cook that don't contain perishable ingredients and modifying others. So each week for the next few weeks I plan to make a couple of these recipes each week to check for flavour, quantity, able to be cooked in only 1 smallish pot and a frying pan and...whether the family will eat it!
Things I have already discovered...
Things I have already discovered...
- you can make white sauce with oil instead of butter or margarine for the fat
- a box of 'no egg' (egg replacement, made for those allergic to eggs) should be all i need for recipes that contain egg eg. fritters.
Long term tenant of the 'To Do' list evicted
Today...I cleaned out/organised 2/3 of our large linen cupboard. About a year ago I had managed to organise 2 of the 5 shelves, and had never got around to dealing with the other 3, plus the floor space. With it being wet and windy outside today and in a mood to clean and organise my stuff (as 3 kids at home on holidays makes enough mess for all of us)...I tackled the task. This involved unpacking a bag and 1/2 a box of stuff that hadn't been unpacked since we moved in 1.5 years ago! So now all the shelves and the floor space are looking respectable, although I'd still like to get some baskets/boxes to put some thing in to make them easier to store and access (to make effecient use of the space). Unfortunately that will cost money, so it may be a while before that happens.
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Christmas is coming... and has been
Today, it was time to get the "real" Christmas tree, from the Christmas tree farm. We were only just in time - there were only half a dozen trees left to choose from. Here it is, ready for two weeks time:
Friday, 9 December 2011
End of a very busy week
This week has been one of the busiest weeks...apart from all the normal weekly activities, there has been a number of extra Christmas things, as well as extra appointments. Christmas activities have included:
- playgroup Christmas party, and
- Kindy family Christmas Dinner.
- dentist appointments for Joanna and Naomi
- Ben's class sharing afternoon (where they share what they've been learning during the term)
- Drs appointment for me
- watching Ben's class performing a kapa haka at Junior school assembly
I'm looking forward to holidays!
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Plugged In
As the kids get older the more we are having to interact with kid pop culture. Today I'm particularly thinking about movies. It can be hard to tell from a preview or synopsis if a certain movie is suitable for kids (the 'animation' filter doesn't work these days - 'The Incredibles' being a case in point) or if they content (language/actions/themes) that don't align with a Christian world view. So I have been using the Focus on the Family's 'Plugged In' website to do my research - somebody else has taken the time to watch the movie and compile a report noting all positive elements, spiritual content, violent content, crude or profane language, drug and alcohol content, other negative elements and a general conclusion.
I have found this useful to make a decision about the kids viewing in a number of situations including - DVDs we pick up in the kids sections at the library, movies that are on TV and 'movie nights' the school P&C has run.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
A new favourite
Naomi came up with the idea of play hair dressers yesterday...It's the first time my kids have really played it. She dragged out all Joanna's hair stuff from the bathroom and proceeded to put as many clips and headbands in Joanna's hair as she could fit. Then today she has dragged out the hair stuff twice to play the same game. I can see it being a regular activity for the girls from now on.
Friday, 2 December 2011
In the news...
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Thursday, 1 December 2011
Naomi's party
Naomi had a handful of friends over for a party... she had lots of fun eating cake:
And playing cricket:
Rewind: Naomi's birthday
We've fallen a bit behind in blogging stuff recently... we'll try and catch up over the next week or so! Anyway, first up, Naomi's birthday, just over a month ago now. I'll post some stuff about her party, but for now, here's her cake (it's an animated GIF, so click on the picture, and it should cycle through the stages of the cake being made...)
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